Manufactured object identification

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods, apparatus, and computer program code for object manufacturing (e.g. 3D printing), to align an object scan obtained from a manufactured object manufactured according to an object data file with an object representation obtained from the object data file. The manufactured object has been manufactured on a manufacturing bed of a 3D manufacturing apparatus according to the object data file. The manufactured object comprises a manufacturing parameter identifier in a region of interest defined in the object data file, the manufacturing parameter identifier indicating a manufacturing parameter of the manufactured object. The manufacturing parameter identifier in the region of interest of the aligned object scan may be computationally read.

1 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 aligning an object scan obtained from a manufactured object manufactured according to an object data file with an object representation obtained from the object data file; wherein the manufactured object was manufactured on a manufacturing bed of a 3D manufacturing apparatus according to the object data file, and wherein the manufactured object comprises a manufacturing parameter identifier in a region of interest defined in the object data file, the manufacturing parameter identifier indicating a manufacturing parameter of the manufactured object; and   computationally reading the manufacturing parameter identifier in the region of interest of the aligned object scan.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , comprising:
 extracting the region of interest from the aligned object scan using the region of interest defined in the object data file; and   computationally reading the manufacturing parameter identifier from the extracted region of interest.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the manufacturing parameter identifier indicates one of more of:
 a location on the manufacturing bed where the manufactured object was manufactured;   a layer identifier indicating the manufacturing layer where the manufactured object was manufactured;   a manufacturing bed identifier indicating the location in the manufacturing layer where the manufactured object was manufactured;   a manufacturing run identifier indicating the manufacturing run of a plurality of manufacturing runs in which the manufactured object was manufactured;   a manufacturing apparatus identifier indicating the manufacturing apparatus used to manufacture the manufactured object;   a timestamp indicating when the manufactured object was manufactured; and   a build material indicator indicating a parameter of the build material used to manufacture the manufactured object.   
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:
 identifying that the object representation comprises a degree of symmetry; and aligning the object scan with the object representation comprises:   aligning the object scan in a correct orientation with the object representation according to the degree of symmetry of the object representation.   
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein, when the object representation comprises a degree of symmetry, the manufactured object comprises an alignment feature in an alignment feature region of the manufactured object to break the symmetry of the manufactured object manufactured according to the object data file. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein aligning the object scan with the object representation comprises:
 identifying the alignment feature from a candidate alignment feature regions of the manufactured object; and   aligning the alignment feature of the manufactured object with the alignment feature represented with the object data file.   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein aligning the alignment feature of the manufactured object with the alignment feature included with the object representation comprises:
 identifying the alignment feature in the object scan of the manufactured object using pattern identification and neural network-based pattern identification.   
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein computationally reading the manufacturing parameter identifier comprises converting the region of interest of the aligned object scan to a depth map and reading the manufacturing parameter identifier using a neural network or optical character recognition. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the alignment feature region and the region of interest coincide, and wherein the alignment feature and the manufacturing parameter identifier are the same feature, the feature thereby both breaking the symmetry of the manufactured object and indicating the manufacturing parameter of the manufactured object. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the method comprises:
 manufacturing the object according to the object data file and manufacturing the manufacturing parameter identifier in the region of interest defined in the object data file.   
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein, for a plurality of manufactured objects manufacturing according to the object data file, each manufactured object comprises a unique manufacturing parameter identifier in a region of interest defined in the object data file, and the method comprises:
 aligning the object scan obtained from each manufactured object manufactured according to the object data file with the object representation obtained from the object data file; and   computationally reading the unique manufacturing parameter identifier in the region of interest of each of the aligned object scans.   
     
     
         12 . An apparatus comprising:
 a processor;   a computer readable storage coupled to the processor; and   an instruction set to cooperate with the processor and the computer readable storage to:   obtain an object scan of an object manufactured by a 3D manufacturing apparatus, the object manufactured according to an object data file defining the object geometry and a region of interest of the object, the object comprising a manufacturing parameter identifier in the region of interest indicating a manufacturing parameter of the manufactured object;   align the obtained object scan with an object representation obtained from the object data file;   extract the region of interest from the aligned object scan according to the region of interest defined in the object data file; and   read the manufacturing parameter identifier in the region of interest of the aligned object scan.   
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
 match a 3D object scan of a 3D manufactured object according to a CAD object data file with a 3D representation of the object from the CAD object data, wherein the 3D manufactured object comprises a region of interest containing a label, the label identifying a manufacturing parameter associated with the 3D manufactured object;   identify the region of interest in the 3D object scan based on the region of interest in the 3D representation; and   obtain the manufacturing parameter from the region of interest identified in the 3D object scan.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereon of  claim 13  which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to match the 3D object scan with the 3D representation of the object by:
 identifying a fiducial feature included in the 3D object scan; 
 aligning the 3D object scan with the 3D representation by aligning the fiducial feature in the 3D object scan with a corresponding fiducial feature of the 3D representation. 
 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium having executable instructions stored thereon of  claim 14  which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to obtain the manufacturing parameter from the region of interest by identifying an alphanumeric character present in the 3D manufactured object using character recognition, the alphanumeric character representing the manufacturing parameter.